Chatterbox - still talking nonsense

I am a big admirer of Nicola Walker, and in this particular play at the Royal Court she is Miriam, a mother grappling with the disappearance of her teenage son, Oscar.  The play ranges over a seven year period, dipping back and forward, with panic at the early stages, and as the police investigation remains unresolved, the whole family find different ways of living with the absence.  The Unbelievers in this case are the family who have lost faith that Oscar will return and are finding ways to move forward with their lives, whereas Miriam is fierce and obsessive about not giving up.  Things all come to a head when Oscar's dad (Paul Higgins) suggests holding a memorial service. The staging is simple but effective with a soulless waiting room at the back where the cast go when they are not performing, presumably to represent the limbo the characters are all experiencing; meanwhile the main action takes place in the living room towards the front of the stage.  I think th...

Unicorn at the Garrick Theatre  This new play by Mike Bartlett , has a fabulous cast with Nicola Walker (Polly) Stephen Mangan (Nick) and Erin Doherty (Kate) and all three actors are excellent.  I really enjoyed the first half which sets the scene of a tired marriage potentially being enlivened by becoming a throuple when Polly finds the ‘unicorn’, that person who might become the third leg to stabilise this relationship.  This is a wordy play, lots of graphic language, getting lots of laughs out of middle class awkwardness about sex, generation gaps, aging, midlife, and masculinity.  I found the relationships that develop between the three characters believable, and the ethical debates and implications of the situation, trying to find a way to live differently from social norms and without shame, really engaging.  I was really  invested in finding out how things would go. In the second half I was looking forward to teasing out more about how this relations...